1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to safety ski bindings of the type comprising a movable plate adapted to support the corresponding ski boot and mounted for rotatable and longitudinal movement in a plane parallel to the ski and also detachable therefrom.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
A movable plate comprises at its toe and heel ends attachment means for holding the ski boot in position thereon. Further, this movable plate is retained on the ski by devices cooperating with the toe and heel ends of the plate, respectively. One of said devices comprises a movable lock bolt associated with resilient means capable, in case of abnormal efforts, of releasing the plate from the ski.
The retaining device provided at the opposite end of the movable plate consists of a fixed member comprising a cavity adapted to receive the corresponding end of the movable plate or an anchoring lug carried by this plate. In fact, the only function of this last-mentioned device consists in holding the corresponding end of the movable plate in position while permitting the escape thereof when abnormally high efforts are exerted thereon.
In actual service conditions, the use of safety ski bindings of this character is attended by a delicate problem when resetting the movable plate to its operative position after it has been detached from the ski. Afer detachment since the skier's boot remains secured to the movable plate, the skier must present the assembly in a proper position from above the ski to reset successively one and then the other end of the plate to the toe and heel end retaining devices. Now, in most types of existing ski bindings this resetting operation can only be accomplished if the movable plate is presented in a well-defined, accurate position. But since this operation usually must be performed on a ski slope serious difficulties are experienced and in many cases, the skier must make several attempts before he succeeds in making the proper alignment. Moreover the difficulty of the problems to be solved increases considerably on freshly fallen, untaped snow.